Electronic battery feed circuits are used in telephone systems to provide operating current to a subscriber loop, or line circuit without the need for transformers which are inconvenient to implement in semiconductor integrated circuit technology. Because electronic battery feed circuits are usually provided in telephone systems on a per-line basis, their initial cost and operating energy cost are important concerns. For example, the voltage level at which a semiconductor integrated circuit is to be operated dictates the sizes of the devices to be employed in the circuit and also their spacing with respect to one another. In that sense, the requirement for a high operating voltage usually means a significantly greater silicon chip area than would be the case for an integrated circuit that could operate at a substantially lower voltage level.
In one form of electronic battery feed circuit for telephone systems which is found in the art at the present time, tip and ring transconductance amplifiers, a common mode feedback amplifier for the tip and ring amplifiers, and a phase splitting amplifier are included in an integrated circuit chip which operates at a relatively high voltage, i.e., a voltage which corresponds to that which is required by a subscriber line which is fed by the battery feed circuit. In a typical application, for example, such amplifier elements and the subscriber line would be operated at a supply voltage of, for example, -48 volts or higher. The phase splitting amplifier receives a combined form of various feedback and transmission signals and applies the combined form in complementary phases to like inputs of the tip and ring amplifiers for controlling the amount of metallic current supplied by those amplifiers to the tip and ring wires of the customer loop. The common mode amplifier is responsive to customer loop circuit common mode voltages for providing a signal to the tip and ring amplifier inputs to control the amount of longitudinal rip and ring currents provided by these amplifiers. One example of an electronic battery feed circuit of the type just outline is to be found in a paper by D. w. Aull, D. A. Spires, P. C. Davis, and S. F. Moyer entitled "A High-Voltage IC for a Transformerless Trunk and Subscriber Line Interface" appearing in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Volume SC-16, No. 4, August, 1981, at pages 261-265.
Another telephone line current supply arrangement is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,106 to R. C. W. Chea, Jr., and in that patent the line current supply is regulated according to subscriber line length. A relatively high impedance set of resistors is employed for sensing the line signal level. A DC-to-DC converter in a feedback path provides the line current control.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,542 to M. L. Embree et al. shows an electronic battery feed circuit in which tip and ring drive circuits are controlled to supply loop current. An isolation amplifier is connected to the tip and ring conductors to monitor common mode voltages and provide a signal that is used by a drive current generator to adjust controls of the tip and ring drive circuits. The current drive generator also receives a single current summer signal which is produced in response to the tip and ring drive circuit outputs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,868 to D. M. Bolus et al. teaches a telephone line interface circuit for supplying line circuit current. A pair of high voltage operational amplifiers feed the tip and ring conductors of a subscriber line circuit. Outputs of those amplifiers are coupled through various additional amplifiers to slave a dual-regulator, DC-to-DC converter. That converter supplies operating potential to the tip and ring amplifiers and to a high voltage common mode control circuit. The latter circuit is also responsive to tip and ring amplifier outputs to locate a ground voltage level between the tip and ring amplifier supply voltage rails.